Mana Wahine WalkStarted on the 1st December 2006 - 24th February 2007
Section One - December
Te Wae Wae Bay to Pleasant Flat Shelter
Day One - 1st December - Te Wae Wae Bay to Teal Bay Hut (around 18 km. Mostly flat with an 800 metre pass before dropping down to lake).
Day Two - 2nd December - Teal Bay Hut to Hauroko campground at the end of Lillburn Valley Road (around 18 km pretty flat).
Day Three - 3rd December - Paddled from Hauroko campground to Caroline Burn Hut – in two hours so continued all the up Lake to Hauroko Burn Hut (34 km), thank you to Val and Sumit for moving the kayaks for us.
Day Four - 4th December - Easy day walking from Hauroko Burn Hut to Halfway Hut along Dusky Track.
Day Five - 5th December - Walked from Halfway Hut to Lock Maree Hut.
Day Six - 6th December - Lock Maree Hut to Upper Spey Hut with lots of mud.
Day Seven - 7th December - Walked out from Upper Spey Hut to the West Arm of Lake Manapouri and Paddled across Lake Manapouri in four hours to Shallow Bay Hut, Big big thanks to Phil for changing his plans and dropping the kayaks off early.
Day Eight - 8th December - Shallow Bay Hut along the Keppler Track into Te Anau for our rest day. Thank you to Kay, Jill, Lara and Niki for all you help with collecting the kayaks.
Day Nine - 9th December - Rest Day, thanks Andrew for bringing the food drop.
Day Ten - 10th December - From Te Anau we paddled up the Lake to Camp Bay on glassy blue water in 8hrs.
Day Eleven - 11th December - Camp Bay to Start of the Milford Track, another easy day on glassy blue water. Thank you Chris for hanging out on the lake with us and sorry about your epic taking the kayaks back to Dunedin for us.
Day Twelve - 12th December - Up over Dore Pass and down to the Eglington River, then along the road to camp at Cascade Creek.
Day Thirtheeth - 13th December - Cascade Creek to the Divide going over the tops (Key summit) to the start of the Routeburn Track.
Day Fourteen - 14th December - [Map D40] Walked the length of the Routeburn and continued on to Rockburn Hut on the Dart River. Walked for 15 hours and around 45 kms, having collected a food drop and all our alpine gear at the end of the Routeburn Track, thank you Sabina.
Day Fifteen - 15th December - [Map E40] From the Rockburn Hut we crossed the Dart River and then headed up to up the Dart to Daley’s Flat Hut (18km).
Day Sixteen - 16th December - [Map E39] Daley’s Flat Hut up the Dart River to Dart Hut for the night.
Day Seventeen - 17th December - Dart Hut up and over Cascade Saddle past Aspiring Hut to Cascade Hut (25km).
Day Eighteen - 18th December - Cascade Hut up the East Matukituki to camp at Junction Flat (23km).
Day Nineteen - 19th December - From our camp at Junction Flat we continued up the East Matukituki to camp at Rock Biv.
Day Twenty - 20th December - Wet Weather Day!!
Day Twenty-one - 21st December - [Map F38] From the Rock Biv we climbed up over Rabbit Pass and then climbed down Waterfall Face to Top Forks Hut along the Wilkin River (23km).
Day Twenty-two - 22nd December - Top Forks Hut up the Wilkin River to Siberia Hut (20.5km).
Day Twenty-three - 23rd December - From Siberia Hut we headed up and over Gillespie Pass and into the Young Valley to camp at Young River Flats.
Day Twenty-four - 24th December - From Young River Flats we crossed the Macarora River and walked 27kms along the Haast Road to meet our friends for Christmas at Pleasant Flats.
Day Twenty-five & Twenty-six & Twenty-seven - 25th & 26th & 27th of December REST DAYS FOR CHRISTMAS!
Section Two – December-January
Pleasant Flat Hut to Erewhon Station
Day Twenty-eight - 28th December - [Map G37] Pleasant Flat Shelter up the Landsborough River to Harper Flat (21km).
Day Twenty-nine - 29th December - Harper Flat up the Landsborough to Fraser Hut.
Day Thirty - 30th December - Fraser Hut over the Broderick Pass and down to Broderick Hut at the head of the Huxley River (22km).
Day Thirty-one - 31st December - New Years Eve!! Broderick Hut down the Huxley River crossing the Hopkins River to Red Hut [Map H37] (15km).
Day Thirty-two - 1st January - NEW YEARS DAY!! Red Hut down to Lake Ohau then up Dobson River to Le Crens Hut (23km).
Day Thirty-three - 2nd January - Le Crens Hut walk up Dobson River to Waterfall Hut (long day walking in the sun).
Day Thirty-four - 3rd January - Waterfall Hut we bush bashed for five hours over Ben Ohau Range via Bush Stream (grrrr!) and down to the Mount Cook Road. Walk 5km along the road to stay at Unwin Hut (23km).
Day Thirty-five & Thirty-six - 4th & 5th January Rest Days at Unwin Hut.
Day Thirty-seven - 6th January - Unwin Hut to Ball Shelter on the Tasmin Glacier, with packs we could not pick-up they were so heavey, but once on they were fine.
Day Thirty-eight - 7th January - From Ball shelter we crossed the Tasmin Glasier into the Murchison Valley before heading up the valley to Liebig Hut.
Day Thirty-nine - 8th January - From Liebig Hut we headed over Alisa Pass (2190m), down Alisa Stream to Memorial Hut (12km).
Day Forty - 9th January - Memorial Hut, up Cass River over Rankin Pass (1920m) and onto Rankin stream bush bash to Rankin Hut on the Godley River (18km).
Day Forty-one - 10th January - HELEN’S BIRTHDAY!!!! Rankin Hut, [Map I35] After crossing the Godley we walked up the valley to Red Stag Hut (14km).
Day Forty-two - 11th January - Red Stag Hut we changed our route due to bad weather conditions and headed back down the Godley to Stone hut on the Macauley River.
Day Forty-three - 12th January - From Stone hut we walked through the Two Thumb range to camp by the NE Gorge Stream.
Day Forty-four - 13th January - [Map J35] From our camp we climbed over Alma Col 2139m into the Rangitata to Black Mountain Hut.
Day Forty-five - 14th January - Black Mountain Hut across the Havelock and Clyde Rivers to Erewhon Station.
Section Three –January-February
Erewhon Station to Ada Hut
Day Forty-six - 15th January - Rest Day at Erewhon Station!
Day Forty-seven - 16th January - [Map J34] Erewhon Station to Hermitage Hut on the Lawrence River.
Day Forty-eight - 17th January - Hermitage Hut over Butler saddle (1816m) to Reischek Hut on the Rakaia River.
Day Forty-nine - 18th January - Reischek Hut we camped at confluence of Rakaia River and Lake Stream (via sunbaking at stream).
Day Fifty - 19th January - After an eventual successful river crossing of Rakaia River which was in flood, we crossed the Mathias river to Mistake Creek Hut.
Day Fifty-one - 20th January - From Mistake Creek Hut we walked up Moa Stream over the Rolleston range via an unnamed saddle we christened 'Funner Pass' to Moa Stream Hut.
Day Fifty-two - 21st January - [Map K34] Moa Stream Hut to Weka Burnett Bivouac Hut (Weka and Burnett river confluence which leads into the Wilberforce River).
Day Fifty-three - 22nd January - [Map K33] Weka Burnett Bivouac via White Col to Barker Hut.
Day Fifty-four - 23rd January - Barker Hut down the Waimakariri River to Carrington Hut.
Day Fifty-five - 24th January - Carrington Hut to Greyney's Shelter on Arthur's Pass Road.
Day Fifty-six - 25th January - Rest Day at Arthur's Pass - Greyneys Shelter.
Day Fifty-seven - 26th January - Greyneys Shelter we walked up the west branch of Otehake River over Turuahuna Pass to Otehake Hut.
Day Fifty-eight - 27th January - Otehake Hut along the Taramakau River to Kiwi Hut.
Day Fifty-nine - 28th January - [Map L33] Kiwi Hut via Harper's Pass via hot pools along the Kiwi Pack Track to No.3 Hut on the Hurunui River.
Day Sixty - 29th January - [Map L32] No.3 Hut passed Lake Sumner we zoomed over Kiwi Saddle to Hope Kiwi Hut, easy going now that the terrain is flat and tracked.
Day Sixty-one - 30th January - [Map M32] Hope Kiwi Hut we walked out onto the main road at walked down to camp at Boyle Village on the Boyle River.
Day Sixty-two - 31th January - From Boyle Village we walked along the St. James Walkway to Boyle's Flat Hut.
Day Sixty-three - 1st February - [Map M31] Boyle's Flat Hut along Anne River over Anne saddle to Christopher Hut.
Day Sixty-four - 2nd February - From Christopher Hut we walk to Ada Hut via Ada Pass in the full moon light to wait for a food drop, thank you Roy for walking it in!
Section Four – February
Ada Hut to Fossil Point
Day Sixty-five - 3rd February - Ada Hut over Three-Tarn Pass along the West Arm of Matakitaki River to Bob's Hut (15km).
Day Sixty-six - 4th February - [Map M30] Bob's Hut over David Saddle (awesome day) down D'Urville River to D'Urville Biv.
Day Sixty-seven - 5th February - [Map M29] D'Urville Biv down D'Urville River over Sabine River to Sabine Hut on Lake Rotoroa.
Day Sixty-eight - 6th February - Sabine Hut following Rotoroa Track to campground and food drop, thank you Richard for the midnight drop and JC's mum and dad for all their support and yummy home grown food.
Day Sixty-nine - 7th February - From the campground at Lake Rotoroa we walked along the road to camp between a road and a river near Owen Junction.
Day Seventy - 8th February - Walking along the road for a short distance we cut through the farmer field to camp at confluence of Frying Pan Creek and Owen river.
Day Seventy-one - 9th February - Branch Ck. Hut, Fyfe river.
Day Seventy-two - 10th February - Rolling Junction Hut, Rolling and Wangapeka rivers.
Day Seventy-three - 11th February - Stone Hut, Wangapeka river.
Day Seventy-four - 12th February - Venus Hut, Karamea river.
Day Seventy-five - 13th February - Spludgeons rock shelter.
Day Seventy-six - 14th February - Trilobite Hut, Cobb reservoir.
Day Seventy-seven -15th February - Fenella Hut, Cobb Valley.
Day Seventy-eight - 16th February - Lonely Lake Hut, Douglas Range.
Day Seventy-nine - 17th February - Adelaide Lake Hut (Trident Hut)
Day Eighty - 18th February - Boulder Lake Hut, Boulder Lake (via Green pass)
Day Eighty-one - 19th February - Bainham Town!
Day Eighty-two - 20th February - Green Point, Whanganui Inlet.
Day Eighty-three - 21st February - Mystery location (shh! it's a secret!)
Day Eighty-four - 22nd February - Cape Farewell and Fossil Point!
We completed our traverse of the Southern Alps!!!
84days, 1600km, 850 hours of walking, 21 alpine passes, and 8 rest days.
Thank-you for all your support over these three months. Especially to all our family and friends who did food drops!